The USA's west coast is flattened in spectacular fashion when the San Andreas fault erupts.

The huge, yawning fault of Dwayne Johnson's latest action extravaganza, however, is its lacklustre storyline which measures a good 9.6 on the cliche scale.

With quakes striking all the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Johnson's rescue-pilot must negotiate crumbling highways, tsunamis and tower-blocks toppling like dominos to locate and save his daughter and estranged wife.

As the $100million budget suggests, the effects are stunning - the Golden Gate Bridge being engulfed by the mother of all tidal waves is a highlight - with all that dust and falling glass tapping into our post-9/11 anxieties.

But it's during its quieter moments that San Andreas becomes a disaster movie of a very different type due to cardboard characters acting out hackneyed plot twists stolen from the likes of The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day.